CN111971720B

CN111971720B - Driving support device, vehicle, improper driving detection system, and server device

Info

Publication number: CN111971720B
Application number: CN201980024158.3A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 福田信浩; 小林纪彦; 西原惠司; M·J·劳伦森; J·C·诺兰
Original assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co Ltd
Current assignee: Panasonic Automotive Systems Co Ltd
Priority date: 2018-03-30
Filing date: 2019-03-29
Publication date: 2022-08-30
Anticipated expiration: 2039-03-29
Also published as: CN111971720A; JP7373752B2; JPWO2019189908A1; WO2019189908A1; US20210009157A1

Abstract

The driving assistance device is provided with: a detection unit that determines whether or not a route is changed during automatic driving based on sensor information, and outputs an instruction to execute automatic driving according to the determination result to a vehicle control unit; and an improper driving detection unit that uses at least one of information relating to one or more other vehicles in the vicinity of the vehicle during automatic driving and area information including a location where the vehicle is located, queries the database for the presence or absence of an improper driving vehicle that has been improperly driven among the other vehicles, and detects the presence or absence of improper driving of the other vehicles based on the query result. When improper driving occurs, the improper driving detecting portion generates improper driving vehicle information including ID information of the improper driving vehicle and respective travel track information of the improper driving vehicle and the vehicle, and requests registration or update of the improper driving vehicle information from the database.

Description

Driving support device, vehicle, improper driving detection system, and server device

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to a driving assistance device, a vehicle, an improper driving detection system, and a server device.

Background

Patent document 1 discloses the following technique: a first vehicle, which is an autonomous automobile, receives one or more sensor information indicating the driving characteristics of each of a plurality of other vehicles traveling in the vicinity of the first vehicle while traveling on a road, and determines a second vehicle that performs an aggressive driving action on the first vehicle on the basis of the sensor information.

Documents of the prior art

Patent document

Patent document 1: U.S. patent application publication No. 2014/0236414 specification

Disclosure of Invention

Problems to be solved by the invention

In propelling the use of an Autonomous Vehicle (AV) in particular, it is considered that the Autonomous Vehicle may encounter improper driving (e.g., malicious approach of other vehicles, intentional intrusion of other vehicles into the front, etc. of a lane change). As a conventional countermeasure against improper driving, for example, a countermeasure such as recording a moving image during driving by a drive recorder mounted on a vehicle as evidence is considered.

However, considering the possibility of the above-described improper driving of the automatically driven vehicle, if the conventional measures do not work effectively, the operation and the popularization of the automatically driven vehicle become a serious obstacle, and it is estimated that the conventional measures alone are insufficient. Patent document 1 discloses that after an aggressive driving behavior of the second vehicle is identified, the driving is controlled so that the first vehicle avoids the second vehicle. However, even if the technique of patent document 1 is used, it is considered that inappropriate driving can be temporarily eliminated, but it is difficult to effectively suppress the aggressive driving behavior itself by the second vehicle.

In addition, since the automated driving vehicle is provided with a device effective against inappropriate driving, in particular, it is expected that the probability of the automated driving vehicle encountering an accident is reduced, and thus, for example, it is also expected that the commercial expansion such as reduction of the vehicle insurance premium can be expected. In addition, in a vehicle scheduling service (for example, vehicle scheduling of a taxi) or the like in which an autonomous automobile is estimated to be used in a large amount, it is not possible to deny the possibility that a taxi of a competitive company interferes with a ride by improper driving, and it is estimated that the monitoring for improper driving is not limited to the monitoring for a simple intentional crime, and it is also an important subject in the aspect of studying customer acquisition profitability and service feasibility.

The present disclosure has been made in view of the above conventional circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide a driving assistance device, a vehicle, an inappropriate driving detection system, and a server device: in automatic driving, whether or not inappropriate driving such as abnormal approach has been performed on the own vehicle is efficiently determined, information on another vehicle that has performed the inappropriate driving is generated as evidence, and the information is registered or updated in a predetermined database, thereby effectively promoting suppression of execution of the inappropriate driving.

Means for solving the problems

The present disclosure provides a driving assistance device including: a detection unit that determines whether or not a route has been changed during automatic driving based on sensor information obtained from a sensor provided in a vehicle, and outputs an instruction to execute automatic driving in accordance with the determination result to a vehicle control unit; and an improper drive detection unit that uses at least one of information relating to one or more other vehicles in the vicinity of the vehicle under automatic driving and area information including a location where the vehicle is located, inquires an external database about whether there is an improper drive vehicle that has been improperly driven among the other vehicles, and detects whether improper driving of the other vehicle has occurred based on an inquiry result from the database, wherein, when the improper driving has occurred, the improper drive detection unit generates improper drive vehicle information including ID information of the improper drive vehicle that has performed the improper driving and travel track information of each of the improper drive vehicle and the vehicle, and requests registration or update of the improper drive vehicle information to the database.

Further, the present disclosure provides a vehicle having a driving assistance device mounted thereon, wherein the driving assistance device includes: a detection unit that determines whether or not there is a change in a route during automatic driving based on sensor information obtained from a sensor provided in the vehicle, and outputs an instruction to execute automatic driving according to the determination result to a vehicle control unit; and an improper drive detection unit that uses at least one of information relating to one or more other vehicles in the vicinity of the vehicle under automatic driving and area information including a location where the vehicle is located, inquires an external database about whether there is an improper drive vehicle that has been improperly driven among the other vehicles, detects whether improper driving of the other vehicle has occurred based on a result of the inquiry from the database, and, when the improper driving has occurred, the improper drive detection unit generates improper drive vehicle information including ID information of the improper drive vehicle that has performed the improper driving and travel track information of each of the improper drive vehicle and the vehicle, and requests registration or update of the improper drive vehicle information to the database.

Further, the present disclosure provides an improper drive detection system in which a server device is communicably connected to a vehicle, the server device having access to a database for holding information on an improper drive vehicle that has undergone improper drive, wherein the vehicle determines whether or not a route during automatic drive has been changed based on sensor information obtained from a sensor provided in the vehicle, and outputs an instruction to execute automatic drive according to a result of the determination to a vehicle control unit, the vehicle uses at least one of information on one or more other vehicles around the vehicle during automatic drive and area information including a location where the vehicle is located, and inquires the server device whether or not there is an improper drive vehicle that has undergone improper drive among the other vehicles, the server device accesses the database in response to an inquiry from the vehicle, receives an inquiry result corresponding to the inquiry from the vehicle, and transmits the inquiry result to the vehicle, and the vehicle detects whether or not improper driving of another vehicle has occurred based on the inquiry result transmitted from the server device, and when the improper driving has occurred, the vehicle generates improper driving vehicle information including ID information of the improper driving vehicle that has performed the improper driving and travel track information of each of the improper driving vehicle and the vehicle, and requests the server device to register or update the improper driving vehicle information.

Further, the present disclosure provides a server device connected to a database for holding information on an improperly driven vehicle that has performed improper driving so as to be accessible, the server device including: a communication unit that receives an inquiry request including at least one of information on one or more other vehicles in the vicinity of a vehicle under automatic driving and regional information including a location where the vehicle is located, and that inquires whether there is an improperly driven vehicle that has been improperly driven among the other vehicles; and a processor that accesses the database via the communication portion to perform an inquiry including whether or not there is an improperly driven vehicle that is improperly driven among the other vehicles, based on the information on the other vehicles and the region information included in the received inquiry request, and transmits an inquiry result from the database to the vehicle via the communication portion, wherein the processor registers or updates in the database after accepting improperly driven vehicle information generated by the vehicle in a case where occurrence of improper driving of the other vehicle is detected by the vehicle, the improperly driven vehicle information including ID information of the improperly driven vehicle that is improperly driven and travel track information of each of the improperly driven vehicle and the vehicle.

In addition, any combination of the above-described constituent elements, and a mode in which the expression form of the present disclosure is converted between a method, an apparatus, a system, a recording medium, a computer program, and the like are also effective as a mode of the present disclosure.

ADVANTAGEOUS EFFECTS OF INVENTION

According to the present disclosure, it is possible to efficiently determine whether or not improper driving such as abnormal approach has been performed on the own vehicle during automatic driving, generate information relating to another vehicle that has performed the improper driving as evidence, and register or update the information in a predetermined database, and therefore it is possible to effectively promote suppression of execution of improper driving.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of a system configuration of an improper driving detection system for a vehicle equipped with a driving assistance device according to embodiment 1.

Fig. 2 is a diagram showing an example of the data structure of the improper driving table held in the improper driving database.

Fig. 3 is a flowchart showing an example of an operation procedure of the probe device mounted on the driving assistance device according to embodiment 1.

Fig. 4 is a flowchart showing an example of an operation procedure of the improper drive detection device mounted on the driving assistance device according to embodiment 1.

Fig. 5 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation procedure of the third party terminal.

Fig. 6 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation procedure of the cloud server.

Fig. 7 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation procedure of the external mechanism terminal.

Fig. 8 is a block diagram showing an example of a system configuration of an improper driving detection system for a vehicle equipped with the driving assistance device according to embodiment 2.

Fig. 9 is a flowchart showing an example of an operation procedure of the probe device mounted on the driving assistance device according to embodiment 2.

Fig. 10 is a flowchart showing an example of an operation procedure of the improper drive detection device mounted on the driving assistance device according to embodiment 2.

Fig. 11 is a block diagram showing an example of a system configuration of an inappropriate driving detection system for a vehicle equipped with the driving assistance device according to the first modification.

Fig. 12 is a block diagram showing an example of a system configuration of an improper driving detection system for a vehicle equipped with a driving assistance device according to a second modification.

Fig. 13 is a block diagram showing an example of a system configuration of an improper driving detection system for a vehicle equipped with a driving assistance device according to a third modification.

Detailed Description

Hereinafter, embodiments specifically disclosing the driving assistance device, the vehicle, the improper drive detection system, and the server device according to the present disclosure will be described in detail with reference to the drawings as appropriate. In some cases, unnecessary detailed description is omitted. For example, detailed descriptions of already known matters and repeated descriptions of substantially the same configuration may be omitted. This is to avoid over-verbose explanation below and to make it readily understandable to the skilled person. Furthermore, the drawings and the following description are provided for those skilled in the art to fully understand the present disclosure, and it is not intended that the subject matter recited in the claims be limited by the drawings and the following description.

(embodiment mode 1)

In embodiment 1, a vehicle 1 (hereinafter, sometimes referred to as "own vehicle") equipped with a driving support device 10 receives information (see below) about one or more other vehicles traveling around the own vehicle and area information of the own vehicle during automatic driving. The vehicle 1 uses the information on other nearby vehicles and the region information of the own vehicle, and inquires the cloud server 20 whether there is an improperly driven vehicle that has been improperly driven among the other nearby vehicles. The vehicle 1 detects whether or not improper driving of another vehicle in the vicinity of the own vehicle has occurred based on the inquiry result (see below) from the cloud server 20, and when improper driving has occurred, generates improper driving vehicle information including ID information (see below) of the improper driving vehicle in which the improper driving has been performed and travel track information of each of the improper driving vehicle and the own vehicle. The vehicle 1 requests the cloud server 20 to perform registration or update of the generated improper driving vehicle information.

In the following description, the improper driving is malicious driving in which another vehicle intentionally performs malicious driving on the vehicle 1 or malignant driving accompanied by danger, and includes behaviors such as abnormal approach of another vehicle, lane change such as a forward rush, sudden front braking, and trailing driving from the rear. The driving is not limited to these behaviors, and may include a malignant behavior (inappropriate behavior) caused by an obstacle (e.g., a human) other than the vehicle.

Fig. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of a system configuration of an improper driving detection system 100 of a vehicle 1 equipped with a driving assistance device 10 according to embodiment 1. The improper driving detection system 100 is configured to include the vehicle 1, the cloud server 20, the improper driving database 30, the third party terminal 40, and the external agency terminal 50. The vehicle 1 and the cloud server 20 are connected to be able to communicate with each other via a network (not shown). The Network is, for example, the internet or a wireless communication Network such as a Local Area Network (LAN).

The improper drive database 30, the third party terminal 40, and the external institution terminal 50 are connected to each other via the cloud server 20 so as to be able to communicate with each other. That is, the improper drive database 30 and the cloud server 20, the third party terminal 40 and the cloud server 20, and the external agency terminal 50 and the cloud server 20 are connected so as to be able to communicate with each other via a network (not shown). The network is also a wireless communication network such as the internet or a wireless LAN.

The vehicle 1 includes a plurality of sensors S1, a memory M1, a DM (Dynamic Map) information database 11, a driving assistance device 10, a vehicle control device 13, and an actuator 14. The vehicle 1 is a vehicle having an automatic driving level of 1 or more, and in the following description, a vehicle having an automatic driving level of 3 is assumed for ease of understanding of the description. The plurality of sensors S1, the memory M1, the DM information database 11, the driving assistance device 10, the vehicle control device 13, and the actuator 14 are connected to each other via an on-vehicle Network such as a Controller Area Network (CAN) so that data or information CAN be input and output to and from each other.

The vehicle 1 is equipped with a driving assistance device 10 for controlling automatic driving of the vehicle 1. The driving assistance device 10 is configured using, for example, a single or a plurality of ECUs (Electronic Control units). The driving assist device 10 includes a detection device 12, an improper driving detection device 15, and a communication device 16. The communication device 16 may be configured not to be included in the driving assistance device 10.

The driving assistance device 10 operates according to the program and the data stored in the memory M1. Specifically, the driving assistance device 10 generates a route to a destination specified by a driver or the like operating an HMI (Human Machine Interface, not shown), and assists the automatic driving performed along the generated route based on output values (hereinafter referred to as "sensor information") detected by the plurality of sensors S1 according to the route.

The driving assistance device 10 outputs a control instruction for controlling operations of various control target devices (for example, a steering wheel, an accelerator pedal, a brake, a direction indicator, and the like) in the vehicle 1 to the vehicle control device 13 during automatic driving according to a route to a destination. The automatic driving of the vehicle 1 includes a function of stopping the vehicle 1 by operating a brake immediately before a collision with an obstacle (for example, another vehicle, a two-wheeled vehicle such as a motorcycle, a pedestrian, a guardrail, a utility pole, a road pole, a store, or the like. The automatic driving of the vehicle 1 includes a function of following another vehicle traveling ahead of the vehicle 1 while keeping a constant distance from the other vehicle. The automatic driving of the vehicle 1 includes a function of controlling the steering wheel of the vehicle 1 so as not to exceed the white line (that is, the lane), but the above-described functions are examples of the automatic driving and are not limited to these functions.

Each of the plurality of sensors S1 detects the situation around the vehicle 1, and outputs information of the detection result (that is, the sensor information described above) to the driving assistance device 10. The travel information as an example of the sensor information is the traveling direction and the vehicle speed of the vehicle 1. The travel information may also include travel information of one or more other vehicles traveling around the vehicle 1 (e.g., a distance between the vehicle 1 and the other vehicle, and a direction in which the other vehicle is present as viewed from the vehicle 1). Each sensor S1 may include, for example, a camera, a panoramic camera, a radar, a plurality of laser rangefinders. The sensor is not limited to any of a camera, a panoramic camera, a radar, and a plurality of laser range finders, and may include, for example, a gyro sensor, an acceleration sensor, a geomagnetic sensor, an inclination sensor, an air temperature sensor, an air pressure sensor, a humidity sensor, and an illuminance sensor.

A camera, which is an example of the sensor, includes an image pickup Device such as a CCD (Charge Coupled Device) or a CMOS (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor). The camera is provided at the center of the front portion of the vehicle body of the vehicle 1, for example, and captures an image with the range of the front center as a detection range. Specifically, the camera detects an obstacle (e.g., another vehicle, a two-wheeled vehicle, a bicycle, a pedestrian, the same applies hereinafter) or the like existing in front of the vehicle 1. The camera can perform image processing using data of a captured image. The camera can detect the position and the traveling direction of an obstacle with reference to the position of the vehicle 1 by image processing.

A plurality of surround cameras (for example, 2 cameras in front of the vehicle body, 2 cameras in rear of the vehicle body, and a total of 6 cameras in side of the vehicle body) are provided in front of, behind, and side of the vehicle body of the vehicle 1. The panoramic camera detects pedestrians, white lines, other vehicles of adjacent lanes, etc. in the vicinity of the vehicle 1.

The radar as an example of the sensor is configured by using a plurality of (for example, 2) radars provided in front of and behind the vehicle body of the vehicle 1. The radar may be provided only in front of the vehicle body of the vehicle 1. The radar is configured using, for example, a millimeter wave radar, a sonar radar, and a Laser radar (Light Detection and Ranging), Laser Imaging Detection and Ranging). The radar scans and irradiates electromagnetic waves such as ultrasonic waves or millimeter waves in a limited angular range, receives reflected light thereof, and detects a time difference between a start time point of the irradiation and a reception time point of the reflected light, thereby detecting a distance between the host vehicle and an obstacle and further detecting a direction in which the host vehicle views the obstacle.

The laser range finders as an example of the sensor are provided on the vehicle body front right side, the vehicle body front left side, the vehicle body side right side, the vehicle body side left side, the vehicle body rear right side, and the vehicle body rear left side of the vehicle 1, respectively. The laser range finder detects obstacles (see above) existing on the front right side, the front left side, the side right side, the side left side, the rear right side, and the rear left side of the vehicle 1, respectively. Specifically, the laser range finder scans and irradiates laser light in a wide angle range, receives the reflected light thereof, and detects a time difference between the start time point of irradiation and the reception time point of the reflected light, thereby detecting the distance between the vehicle 1 and the obstacle and further detecting the direction of the obstacle viewed from the vehicle 1.

A GPS receiver, which is an example of a sensor, receives a plurality of signals indicating the time and the position (i.e., three-dimensional coordinates) of each GPS satellite transmitted from a plurality of GPS (Global Positioning System) satellites, and calculates the position of the GPS receiver (i.e., the current position of the vehicle 1) based on the received signals. The GPS receiver outputs information of the current position of the vehicle 1 (hereinafter referred to as "own vehicle position information") to the detection device 12 and the improper driving detection device 15 of the driving assistance device 10, respectively.

The Memory M1 is configured by, for example, a RAM (Random Access Memory) and a ROM (Read Only Memory), and temporarily holds a program and data necessary for the driving assistance device 10 and the vehicle control device 13 to execute operations, and data and information generated during the operations. The RAM is, for example, a work memory (work memory) used when the driving assistance device 10 and the vehicle control device 13 are operated. The ROM stores and holds, for example, programs and data for controlling the driving assistance device 10 and the vehicle control device 13 in advance.

The DM information database 11 is configured by, for example, an HDD (Hard Disk Drive) or an SSD (Solid State Drive), and holds a dynamic map, which is dynamic road structure information required for the automatic driving of the vehicle 1. The data of the dynamic map is accepted in the detection means 12 and the improper driving detection means 15. The DM information database 11 can receive and update data of a dynamic map periodically provided from a dynamic map providing server (not shown). In the drawings, the DM information database is abbreviated as "DM information DB" for convenience.

Here, the dynamic map is, for example, digital map data obtained by combining static high-precision three-dimensional map data with information on a position where dynamic changes have occurred, such as traffic congestion information on a road and traffic restrictions due to an accident or road construction. The vehicle 1 can use the data of the dynamic map that can be read from the DM information database 11, and can perform automatic driving while accurately estimating the peripheral information of the vehicle 1 based on the sensor information of the plurality of sensors S1 (for example, millimeter wave radar, ultrasonic sensor, optical camera, and the like) mounted on the vehicle 1.

The detection device 12, which is an example of a detection unit, receives sensor information detected by each of the plurality of sensors S1 and own vehicle position information of the vehicle 1 calculated by the GPS receiver, which is an example of the sensor S1. The probe device 12 receives data of a dynamic map required for the automatic driving of the vehicle 1 from the DM information database 11. The probe device 12 generates a route for the vehicle 1 to travel by the automated driving up to the destination using the received various information and data, and outputs an instruction to execute the automated driving according to the route to the vehicle control device 13.

When the inappropriate behavior alert information (see below) is received from the inappropriate driving detection device 15, the detection device 12 detects whether or not another vehicle satisfying the inappropriate behavior alert information exists in the vicinity of the vehicle 1. When detecting that another vehicle satisfying the improper behavior reminding information exists in the vicinity of the vehicle 1, the detection device 12 generates the improper behavior vehicle avoidance route based on the information of the improper driving pattern and the frequency included in the improper behavior reminding information, and causes the vehicle control device 13 to perform automatic driving that is away from the improper driving vehicle by a certain distance. The operation of the probe 12 will be described in detail later with reference to fig. 3.

The improper drive detection device 15, which is an example of the improper drive detection unit, receives sensor information detected by each of the plurality of sensors S1 and own vehicle position information of the vehicle 1 calculated by the GPS receiver, which is an example of the sensor S1. The improper drive detection device 15 receives data of the dynamic map required for the automatic driving of the vehicle 1 from the DM information database 11. The inappropriate driving detection device 15 recognizes information (for example, vehicle ID information described later) about one or more other vehicles running in the vicinity of the vehicle 1 and the area information of the own vehicle during automatic driving, based on the sensor information detected by each of the plurality of sensors S1, the own vehicle position information, and the data of the dynamic map. The area information is information of a wide area including a place where the vehicle 1 (own vehicle) is located.

The improper drive detection device 15 uses information (for example, vehicle ID information described later) about other vehicles in the vicinity and the region information of the own vehicle, and inquires the cloud server 20 via the communication device 16 whether there is an improper drive vehicle that has been improperly driven among the other vehicles in the vicinity. The improper driving detecting device 15 detects the presence or absence of the occurrence of improper driving of another vehicle in the vicinity of the own vehicle, based on the inquiry result from the cloud server 20 (for example, improper driving vehicle information obtained from an improper driving database 30 described later) and the sensor information obtained from the sensor S1.

When improper driving of another vehicle in the vicinity of the host vehicle occurs (that is, improper driving is suffered), the improper driving detecting device 15 generates improper driving vehicle information (see below) including ID information of the improper driving vehicle that has performed the improper driving (that is, vehicle ID information included in the improper driving vehicle information obtained from the improper driving database 30) and travel track information of each of the improper driving vehicle and the host vehicle (see below). The improper driving detection means 15 requests the cloud server 20 to perform registration or update of the generated improper driving vehicle information via the communication means 16. The details of the operation of the inappropriate driving detection device 15 will be described later with reference to fig. 4.

The communication device 16 functions as a communication interface with the cloud server 20, and is configured using a communication circuit capable of wireless communication with the cloud server 20. The communication device 16 transmits an inquiry request including the vehicle ID information transmitted from the improper drive detection device 15 and the region information of the own vehicle to the cloud server 20. The communication device 16 transmits the inquiry result from the cloud server 20 (that is, the improper driving vehicle information obtained from the improper driving database 30 described later) to the improper driving detection device 15.

Further, the communication device 16 transmits a request for registration or update of the improper driving vehicle information including the improper driving vehicle information generated by the improper driving detection device 15 (refer to the following) to the cloud server 20.

The vehicle control device 13, which is an example of a vehicle control unit, calculates control values of control target devices necessary for controlling the automatic driving, such as an accelerator opening degree of the vehicle 1, a braking force of the vehicle 1, a steering wheel angle, and on/off timing of a traffic light, based on the execution instruction of the automatic driving output from the detection device 12. The vehicle control device 13 causes the actuator 14 to operate the device to be controlled mounted on the vehicle 1 in accordance with the calculated control value. The control value is calculated, for example, in accordance with the route travel generated by the detection device 12 included in the driving assistance device 10. The route is calculated and generated by the detection device 12 and input to the vehicle control device 13. The vehicle control device 13 transmits the calculated control value to an actuator 14 (that is, a steering wheel actuator, an accelerator pedal actuator, a brake actuator, a traffic light on/off controller) for driving each control-target apparatus (for example, a steering wheel, an accelerator pedal, a brake, a direction indicator).

The control target device is a device provided in the vehicle 1, and is controlled by the vehicle control unit 13 to operate during automatic driving of the vehicle 1. The control target device operates under the control of the actuator 14.

The steering actuator is connected to a steering wheel disposed in the vehicle 1, and controls the operation of the steering wheel during automatic driving (in other words, the maintenance or change of the traveling direction of the vehicle 1) in accordance with a control signal for the steering wheel (not shown) input from the vehicle control device 13.

The accelerator pedal actuator is connected to an accelerator pedal disposed in the vehicle 1, and controls the operation of the accelerator pedal during automatic driving (in other words, the maintenance or increase or decrease of the vehicle speed of the vehicle 1) in accordance with a control signal for the accelerator pedal (not shown) input from the vehicle control device 13.

The brake actuator is connected to a brake device (i.e., a brake) disposed in the vehicle 1, and controls the operation of the brake during automatic driving (in other words, the maintenance or change of the brake to the travel of the vehicle 1) in accordance with a control signal input from the vehicle control device 13 to the brake (not shown).

The traffic light on/off controller is connected to a turn-on/off device (hereinafter, abbreviated as "traffic light") of a direction indicator disposed in the vehicle 1, and controls the operation of the traffic light during automatic driving (in other words, the turning-on/off of the traffic light for notifying the vehicle 1 of a left turn or a right turn) in accordance with a control signal for the traffic light (not shown) input from the vehicle control device 13.

The cloud server 20, which is an example of a server device, is a server device that is constructed by a system manager of the driving error detection system 100, and includes at least a communication interface 21, a memory 22, and a processor 23. The communication interface 21, the memory 22, and the processor 23 are connected via an internal bus in such a manner that data or information can be input and output to and from each other.

The communication interface 21, which is an example of the communication unit, is configured using a communication circuit capable of communicating data or information with external devices (for example, the vehicle 1, the improper drive database 30, the third party terminal 40, and the external mechanism terminal 50) connected via a network (not shown). The communication interface 21 receives data or information transmitted from the external device and outputs the data or information to the memory 22 or the processor 23, or transmits data or information input from the processor 23 to the external device (see above). In the drawings, the communication interface is abbreviated as "communication I/F" for convenience.

The memory 22 is configured using, for example, a RAM and a ROM, and temporarily holds programs and data necessary for the cloud server 20 to execute operations, and data and information generated during the operations. The RAM is, for example, a work memory used when the cloud server 20 operates. The ROM stores and holds, for example, programs and data for controlling the cloud server 20 in advance.

The Processor 23 is configured by, for example, a CPU (Central Processing Unit), an MPU (Micro Processing Unit), a DSP (Digital Signal Processor), or an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array). The processor 23 functions as a control unit of the cloud server 20, and performs control processing for comprehensively controlling the operation of each unit of the cloud server 20 as a whole, data input and output processing with each unit of the cloud server 20, data calculation (computation) processing, and data storage processing. The processor 23 operates in accordance with the program and data stored in the memory 22. The processor 23 accesses the improper driving database 30 (see fig. 2) based on the inquiry request including the vehicle ID information and the region information of the own vehicle transmitted from the vehicle 1, and generates data or information of an inquiry result as to whether or not there is another vehicle that has been improperly driven in the past among other vehicles in the vicinity of the vehicle 1. The processor 23 transmits (responds) the improper driving vehicle information (refer to later) obtained as a result of the inquiry of the improper driving database 30 to the vehicle 1 via the communication interface 21. The operation of the cloud server 20 will be described in detail later with reference to fig. 6.

The improper drive database 30, which is an example of an external database, is a database for holding an improper drive table TBL1 (see fig. 2), and the improper drive table TBL1 is obtained by associating feature information of an improper drive vehicle that has been improperly driven in the past with vehicle ID information that can identify the improper drive vehicle. The vehicle ID information, which is an example of the ID information, is information that can identify a vehicle, specifically, vehicle identification number (No.) information, characteristic information of the vehicle (for example, information of a vehicle type and a vehicle color), and characteristic information of a driver (driver) (for example, information of a face and a posture of the driver). The improper drive database 30 is connected so as to be accessible from any one of the cloud server 20, the third party terminal 40, and the external institution terminal 50. In other words, the contents of the improper driving table TBL1 held in the improper driving database 30 are widely disclosed. Further, the improper driving database 30 may be provided in the cloud server 20. In the drawings, the improper driving database is abbreviated as "improper driving DB" for convenience.

Fig. 2 is a diagram showing an example of the data configuration of the improper driving table TBL1 held in the improper driving database 30. As shown in fig. 2, the improper drive table TBL1 holds the area information (that is, the area information where improper drive has occurred), the improper drive pattern, the frequency, the travel track data of the improper drive vehicle and the vehicle 1 (own vehicle), and the number-captured photograph data of the improper drive vehicle in association with the vehicle ID information (see above) that is the identification information of one improper drive vehicle.

The improper drive mode indicates the type of improper drive performed by the improper drive vehicle specified based on the vehicle ID information, and examples thereof include the above-described lane change such as abnormal approach or intrusion into the front, sudden braking in the front, and trailing drive from the rear.

The frequency indicates the frequency of inappropriate driving by the improperly-driven vehicle determined from the vehicle ID information.

The travel track data of the improperly-driven vehicle and the vehicle 1 (own vehicle) is data indicating the track of the travel path of each of the improperly-driven vehicle and the vehicle 1 for a predetermined period including the time point at which improper driving of the vehicle 1 by the improperly-driven vehicle is detected. The travel track data of the improperly-driven vehicle and the vehicle 1 (own vehicle) may be video data of a predetermined period including a time point at which the improperly-driven vehicle has improperly driven the vehicle 1.

The number-captured photograph data of the improperly-driven vehicle is data of a photographed image (that is, a photograph) captured by a sensor S1 (for example, a camera) of the vehicle 1 with respect to the number plate of another vehicle (that is, the improperly-driven vehicle) in which the vehicle 1 is improperly driven.

The third party terminal 40 is, for example, a Computer (for example, a PC (Personal Computer)) disposed in a building of a third party organization such as a management organization or a traffic safety association, and can access each cloud server 20 and the improper driving database 30. In fig. 1, the number of the third party terminals 40 is one, but the configuration may be performed for each of the above-described third party institutions. The third party terminal 40 accesses the improper driving database 30 to periodically acquire improper driving vehicle information of the corresponding region information (that is, the region where the third party institution is located), and determines whether the frequency of improper driving of the improper driving vehicle determined from the improper driving vehicle information is equal to or greater than a threshold value. Further, details of the operation of the third party terminal 40 will be described later with reference to fig. 5.

The external entity terminal 50 is, for example, a computer (for example, a PC) disposed in a building of an external entity such as a police station or a car insurance company, and can access each cloud server 20 and the improper driving database 30. In fig. 1, the number of external entity terminals 50 is one, but the external entity terminals may be arranged for each of the above-described external entities. When the external mechanism terminal 50 receives vehicle ID information of an improperly driven vehicle that desires to be sanctioned from a terminal (not shown) of an automated driving operator (for example, an operator who uses the vehicle 1 in a service of a taxi, a bus, or a carpool), the improper driving vehicle information corresponding to the improper driving information is acquired from the improper driving database 30 based on the vehicle ID information. When the acquired improper driving vehicle information satisfies the predetermined sanction execution condition, the external mechanism terminal 50 prompts (for example, pops up and displays a predetermined message) the operator of the external mechanism (see above) to execute a predetermined sanction measure. The operation of the external mechanism terminal 50 will be described in detail later with reference to fig. 7.

Next, the operation of the detection device 12 of the driving assistance device 10 according to embodiment 1 will be described with reference to fig. 3. Fig. 3 is a flowchart showing an example of an operation procedure of the detection device 12 mounted on the driving assistance device 10 according to embodiment 1. As a premise of the description of fig. 3, the vehicle 1 is in automatic driving to a destination designated by a user operation such as a driver.

In fig. 3, the detection device 12 always receives sensor information from the plurality of sensors S1 (St 1). In the case where the improper drive detection device 15 detects that one of the one or more other vehicles running in the vicinity of the vehicle 1 (own vehicle) under automatic driving is an improper drive vehicle that has been improperly driven in the past, the detection device 12 receives the improper behavior notification information from the improper drive detection device 15(St 2). The improper behavior notification information is information indicating the characteristics of the improperly driven vehicle when one of the one or more other vehicles that are traveling in the vicinity of the vehicle 1 (the host vehicle) under automatic driving is an improperly driven vehicle that has been improperly driven in the past. Specifically, the improper behavior-prompting information includes vehicle ID information, information on improper driving patterns, information on frequency, and position information of the vehicle (that is, other vehicle) specified from the vehicle ID information. Thus, the detection device 12 can receive the improper behavior notification information from the improper driving detection device 15, and thereby can receive a notification that there is a meaning of the improper driving vehicle that has been improperly driven in the past around the vehicle 1.

In addition, in the case where the improper drive detection device 15 detects that none of the one or more other vehicles running in the vicinity of the vehicle 1 (own vehicle) has been improperly driven by improper driving in the past, the processing of step St2 may be omitted.

The detection device 12 determines the presence or absence of a risk to the vehicle 1 traveling in the autonomous driving manner (for example, another vehicle intrudes into the traveling area of the vehicle 1 to such an extent that the vehicle 1 collides with another vehicle) based on the sensor information from the plurality of sensors S1 and the data of the dynamic map from the DM information database 11 (St 3).

When it is determined that there is a risk with respect to the vehicle 1 traveling in the autonomous driving mode (St 4: "yes"), the detection device 12 generates a route (risk avoiding route) for avoiding the risk with another vehicle in the vicinity (St 5). The detection device 12 outputs the information on the danger avoiding route generated at step St5 to the vehicle control device 13(St6), and causes the vehicle control device 13 to perform automatic driving according to the danger avoiding route. After step St6, the process of the probe 12 returns to step St 1.

On the other hand, if it is determined that there is no danger with respect to the vehicle 1 that is traveling in the autonomous driving manner (St 4: no), the detection device 12 determines whether there is another vehicle in the vicinity that satisfies the inappropriate behavior alert information received in step St2, based on the sensor information from the plurality of sensors S1 (St 7).

When it is determined that another vehicle satisfying the improper behavior reminding information exists in the periphery (St 7: yes), the detection device 12 generates a route for avoiding the other vehicle in the periphery (an improper behavior vehicle avoiding route) based on at least the improper driving pattern of the improper driving pattern and the frequency included in the improper behavior reminding information (St 8). Thus, the detection device 12 can actively avoid other vehicles (that is, improperly-driven vehicles that have been improperly driven in the past) around the vehicle 1 (own vehicle) to realize safe automated driving-based travel of the vehicle 1.

For example, when another vehicle in the vicinity has approached abnormally in the improper driving mode, the detection device 12 can generate an improper behavior that means a lane change as a vehicle avoidance route. Further, for example, when another vehicle in the vicinity has suddenly braked as the improper driving mode, the detection device 12 can generate the improper behavior vehicle avoidance route in which the distance between the vehicle and the other vehicle is ensured to be a fixed distance. Further, for example, when another vehicle in the vicinity has been subjected to tailgating as an inappropriate driving pattern, the detection device 12 can generate an inappropriate behavior vehicle avoidance route to the effect of making a concession such as deceleration, roadside parking, or a route change.

Further, the detection device 12 may be configured to generate the illicit vehicle avoidance route in which avoidance measures are performed more positively and in advance than the illicit vehicle avoidance route, when the frequency included in the illicit behavior alert information is higher than a predetermined threshold value. For example, when another vehicle in the vicinity has approached abnormally at a high frequency as an inappropriate driving pattern, the detection device 12 can generate an inappropriate behavior vehicle avoidance route to the effect that the vehicle has immediately departed by making a lane change. Further, for example, when another vehicle in the vicinity frequently brakes suddenly as an inappropriate driving pattern, the detection device 12 can generate an inappropriate behavior vehicle avoidance route that ensures a distance between the vehicle and the other vehicle to be a fixed distance further away. Further, for example, when another vehicle in the vicinity frequently performs trailing driving as an inappropriate driving pattern, the detection device 12 can generate an inappropriate behavior vehicle avoidance route to the effect that a concessional such as deceleration, roadside parking, or a route change is performed promptly.

Further, the detection device 12 may generate a route (misbehaving vehicle avoidance route) for avoiding another vehicle (specifically, another vehicle specified by the misdriving information received at step St2) in the vicinity of the vehicle 1 (the own vehicle) only when it is determined that the frequency of misdriving (for example, the total number of times of execution of the misdriving so far) is equal to or greater than a predetermined value (for example, 3) (St 8). Here, since the registration of the improper driving vehicle information (see fig. 2) in the improper driving database 30 is automatically performed in accordance with the information mainly including the sensor information, the predetermined value is set to 3 or more in order to eliminate a case where, for example, the driver of another vehicle does not intentionally perform improper driving but finally causes improper driving in view of a traffic situation or the like, thereby reducing the misrecognition of the improper behavior modification information. Thus, the detection device 12 can select, in advance and easily, another vehicle having a high possibility of improper driving (that is, another vehicle that has been improperly driven the number of times equal to or more than a predetermined value in the past) among other vehicles in the vicinity of the vehicle 1 (own vehicle), and can assist in realizing safer automatic driving of the vehicle 1 (own vehicle).

The detection device 12 may generate a route (misbehavior vehicle avoidance route) for avoiding another vehicle (i.e., a misbehavior vehicle avoidance route) in consideration of the content of the misdriving pattern of the corresponding another vehicle only when it is determined that the frequency of misdriving (specifically, the other vehicle specified by the misdriving information received at step St2) of the other vehicle in the vicinity of the vehicle 1 (the host vehicle) is equal to or greater than a predetermined value (e.g., 3) or more (e.g., the total number of times of execution of the misdriving so far) (St 8). The reason why the predetermined value is set to 3 or more is the same as the above reason. Thus, the detection device 12 can select, in advance and easily, another vehicle having a high possibility of improper driving (that is, another vehicle that has been improperly driven the number of times equal to or more than a predetermined value in the past) among other vehicles in the vicinity of the vehicle 1 (own vehicle), and can assist in achieving safer automatic driving of the vehicle 1 (own vehicle) so as to be able to escape improper driving in an improper driving mode that the other vehicle has been improperly driven in the past.

On the other hand, when it is determined that there is no other vehicle satisfying the improper behavior modification information in the vicinity (St 7: NO), the detection device 12 causes the vehicle control device 13 to execute execution of automatic driving using the currently set route (St 9).

Next, the operation of the improper drive detection device 15 of the driving assistance device 10 according to embodiment 1 will be described with reference to fig. 4. Fig. 4 is a flowchart showing an example of an operation procedure of the improper drive detecting device 15 mounted on the driving assistance device 10 according to embodiment 1. As a premise of the description of fig. 4, the vehicle 1 is in automatic driving to a destination designated by a user operation such as a driver.

In fig. 4, the improper driving detection device 15 receives sensor information from the plurality of sensors S1 all the time or periodically (St 11). The improper driving detection device 15 generates vehicle ID information (refer to the above) of each of one or more other vehicles around the vehicle 1 (own vehicle) using the sensor information obtained in step St11, and generates region information based on the position information of the vehicle 1 (own vehicle) (St 12). For example, if the position information of the vehicle 1 is "CC street in BB of AA city", the improper driving detection device 15 generates the area information of "AA city" in a wide range including the "CC street". The improper drive detection device 15 generates wide-range area information from the position information of the vehicle 1, and uses the area information in the inquiry request transmitted to the cloud server 20. This enables the cloud server 20 to quickly perform an inquiry only for the current region where the vehicle 1 is traveling.

The improper driving detection device 15 inquires of the cloud server 20 whether there is an improper driving vehicle that has been improperly driven in the past among one or more other vehicles in the vicinity of the vehicle 1 (own vehicle), and therefore generates an inquiry request including the vehicle ID information and the region information generated at step St 12. The improper driving detection device 15 transmits the generated inquiry request to the cloud server 20 via the communication device 16 (St 13).

The cloud server 20 searches the improper driving database 30 in response to the inquiry request generated by the improper driving detecting device 15 to determine whether or not another vehicle that satisfies the vehicle ID information has performed improper driving in the past in the region information included in the inquiry request. The cloud server 20 transmits the retrieval result (that is, the query result) of the improper driving database 30 to the vehicle 1. The query result includes, for example, the matching vehicle ID information in the improper driving database 30 shown in fig. 2 and various information (e.g., information of improper driving patterns and frequencies) corresponding to the vehicle ID information.

The improper driving detection device 15 accepts the query result of the improper driving database 30 transmitted from the cloud server 20 via the communication device 16 (St 14). The improper driving detecting device 15 determines whether the vehicle ID information generated by step St12 is registered in the improper driving database 30 (in other words, whether another vehicle in the vicinity of the vehicle 1 has been improperly driven in the past) based on the result of the inquiry of the improper driving database 30 (St 15). Thus, the improper drive detecting device 15 can easily predict the type of improper drive such as deceleration or abnormal approach in consideration of the result of the inquiry (for example, information on improper drive patterns and frequency) of the improper drive database 30, and can thus quickly determine the presence or absence of the improper drive.

When it is determined that the vehicle ID information is registered in the improper driving database 30 (St 15: yes), the improper driving detection device 15 generates improper behavior modification information (refer to the above) using the position information of the target vehicle (that is, the position information of the vehicle 1) that is the position information of another vehicle that is traveling in the vicinity of the vehicle 1 and that has the vehicle ID information registered in the improper driving database 30 (St 16). The improper driving detection device 15 transmits the generated improper behavior modification information to the detection device 12(St 16).

After step St16, the improper driving detecting device 15 determines the occurrence situation of improper driving (in other words, the presence or absence of improper driving) of one or more other vehicles in the vicinity of the vehicle 1 (own vehicle) based on the pieces of information on the improper driving patterns and the frequencies included in the query result of the improper driving database 30 and the sensor information obtained in step St11 (St 17). Thus, the improper driving detection device 15 can quickly determine whether improper driving of the other vehicle occurs while monitoring one or more other vehicles in the vicinity, taking into account the information of the improper driving pattern and the frequency.

On the other hand, in the case where it is determined that the vehicle ID information is not registered in the improper driving database 30 (St 15: NO), the improper driving detecting device 15 determines the occurrence situation (in other words, the presence or absence of improper driving) of improper driving of one or more other vehicles (that is, other vehicles that have not performed improper driving in the past) around the vehicle 1 (own vehicle) based on the sensor information obtained in step St11 (St 18). Further, after step St17 or step St18, in the case where improper driving of one or more other vehicles in the periphery of the vehicle 1 does not occur (St 19: "NO"), the process of the improper driving detecting device 15 returns to step St 11.

On the other hand, if it is determined after step St17 or step St18 that improper driving of one or more other vehicles around the vehicle 1 (the own vehicle) has occurred (St 19: yes), the improper driving detection device 15 generates improper driving vehicle information corresponding to the other vehicle on which the improper driving has occurred (St 20). The improperly driven vehicle information generated in step St20 includes, for example, information of a region where improper driving has occurred, information of an improper driving pattern, data indicating the respective travel trajectories of the improperly driven vehicle (that is, another vehicle that has been improperly driven with respect to the vehicle 1) and the vehicle 1 (own vehicle), and photograph data (that is, captured image data) in which the number plate of the improperly driven vehicle is captured. The improper driving vehicle information is used as proof information used when an external entity (see above) such as a police station or a car insurance company determines whether to perform sanctions.

The improper driving detecting device 15 generates a registration request containing the improper driving vehicle information generated in step St20 and the vehicle ID information of the improper driving vehicle that has performed the improper driving (St21), and transmits the registration request to the cloud server 20 via the communication device 16. Thus, the cloud server 20 newly registers or updates the vehicle ID information included in the registration request and the improper driving vehicle information corresponding to the vehicle ID information in the improper driving database 30 in accordance with the registration request transmitted from the vehicle 1. After the process of step St21, the process of the improper driving detection device 15 returns to step St 11.

Next, an operation procedure of the third party terminal 40 according to embodiment 1 will be described with reference to fig. 5. Fig. 5 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation procedure of the third party terminal 40. The processing shown in fig. 5 is executed periodically.

In fig. 5, the third party terminal 40 accesses the improper driving database 30 via the cloud server 20, and acquires the improper driving vehicle information registered or updated from the previous access from the improper driving database 30 (St 31). As described above, since the third party organization is arranged for each region, the third party terminal 40 can easily acquire the improper drive vehicle information having the region or the region including the matching region as the region information from the improper drive database 30 in which huge data or information is registered.

The third party terminal 40 individually determines whether or not the frequency included in the improper driving vehicle information (that is, the occurrence frequency of improper driving) is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold value for each of the one or more pieces of improper driving vehicle information acquired in step St41 (St 32). When the frequency included in each of the improper drive vehicle information (that is, the occurrence frequency of improper drive) does not exceed the predetermined threshold value (St 32: no), the process of the third party terminal 40 is ended.

On the other hand, when it is determined that the frequency included in each of the improper driving vehicle information is equal to or greater than the predetermined threshold value (St 32: "yes"), the third party terminal 40 accesses the improper driving database 30 via the cloud server 20 to acquire the improper driving information, and discloses information other than the personal information in the acquired proper improper driving vehicle information as warning information on a homepage (not shown) or the like of a third party organization (St 33). Therefore, information on a region where improper driving frequently occurs, a pattern of improper driving in the region, and characteristics of a vehicle that performs improper driving are widely disclosed via a homepage of a third-party organization, and an unspecified number of drivers and the like can be made aware of the information. This can be expected to effectively suppress improper driving. For example, in the case where there is the improperly driven vehicle information whose occurrence frequency of improper driving exceeds a predetermined threshold value (for example, the number of times), the third party terminal 40 discloses, in the homepage of the third party organization corresponding to the third party terminal 40, information other than information belonging to personal information (specifically, traveling locus data of the improperly driven vehicle and the host vehicle shown in fig. 2, and number-captured photograph data of the improperly driven vehicle) in the improperly driven vehicle information so as to be accessible to an unspecified number of PCs and the like. Thus, the third-party terminal 40 can effectively suppress the inappropriate driving by disclosing the characteristic information of the inappropriate driving vehicle to be reminded in the homepage of the third-party organization widely disclosed to the public.

Note that the processing of the third party terminal 40 shown in fig. 5 is similarly executed in the embodiment and the modification described later.

Next, an operation procedure of the cloud server 20 according to embodiment 1 will be described with reference to fig. 6. Fig. 6 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation procedure of the cloud server 20.

In fig. 6, the cloud server 20 receives an inquiry request containing vehicle ID information and region information from the vehicle 1(St 41). The cloud server 20 retrieves the improper driving database 30 in response to the inquiry request generated by the improper driving detecting device 15 to determine whether there is registered information that matches the inquiry request (that is, whether there is another vehicle that satisfies the vehicle ID information that has been improperly driven in the past in the region information included in the inquiry request) (St 42). Since the cloud server 20 includes the region information in the inquiry request from the vehicle 1, it is possible to easily retrieve the improper driving vehicle information having the matching region information from the improper driving database 30 in which enormous data or information is registered, and to acquire the retrieval result.

The cloud server 20 transmits the retrieval result (that is, the query result) of the improper driving database 30 to the vehicle 1(St 43). The inquiry result includes, for example, the matching vehicle ID information in the improper driving database 30 shown in fig. 2 and various information (e.g., information of improper driving patterns and frequencies) corresponding to the vehicle ID information.

Next, an operation procedure of the external mechanism terminal 50 according to embodiment 1 will be described with reference to fig. 7. Fig. 7 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation procedure of the external mechanism terminal 50.

In fig. 7, the external entity terminal 50 receives vehicle ID information of an improperly driven vehicle that desires to be sanctioned, which is transmitted from a terminal (not shown) such as a PC disposed in a unit of an automated driving operator (for example, an operator who uses an automated driving vehicle such as the vehicle 1 in services such as a taxi, a bus, a carpool, and the like) (St 51). The external institution terminal 50 accesses the improper driving database 30 via the cloud server 20 based on the vehicle ID information received in step St51 to acquire the improper driving vehicle information corresponding to the vehicle ID information from the improper driving database 30 (St 52).

The external mechanism terminal 50 holds the sanction execution conditions unique to each external mechanism (for example, condition information for identifying a scofflaw who is maliciously performing improper driving defined by a combination of improper driving patterns and frequencies), and determines whether or not the improperly-driven vehicle information acquired at step St52 satisfies the sanction execution conditions described above (St 53). When it is determined that the driverless vehicle information acquired at step St52 does not satisfy the above-described sanction execution condition (St 53: no), the process of the external mechanism terminal 50 proceeds to step St 56.

On the other hand, when the external mechanism terminal 50 determines that the driverless vehicle information acquired at step St52 satisfies the above-described sanction execution condition (St 53: yes), sanction evidence data is generated (St 54). The sanction evidence data generated in step St54 includes, for example, data indicating the date and time and place where the improper driving occurred, the frequency, the travel tracks of the improper driving vehicle and the vehicle 1 (own vehicle), and the photograph data (that is, the captured image data) of the improper driving vehicle on which the number plate was captured. After the external institution terminal 50 has generated the sanction evidence data in step St54, the staff of the external institution is prompted to execute a predetermined sanction process as shown below (St 55).

For example, in the case where the external agency is a police station, the police officer performs supervision for an owner of an improperly driven vehicle, i.e., a driver. In addition, for example, in the case where the external facility is an automobile insurance company, a worker of the automobile insurance company requests a predetermined insurance deposit from a driver, who is an owner who does not drive the vehicle properly. In this manner, since the external entity terminal 50 generates the sanction evidence data in step St54, the police, the worker, or the like can be prompted to smoothly perform an effective sanction measure using the sanction evidence data.

The external entity terminal 50 generates data of the sanction implementation situation based on the processing result of the sanction performed in step St55, and transmits the data to a terminal (not shown) of the automated driving operator (St 56). When there is no data satisfying the sanction execution condition, the external mechanism terminal 50 generates data indicating the sanction implementation state to that effect, and transmits the data to a terminal (not shown) of the automated driving operator (St 56).

As described above, the driving assistance device 10 or the vehicle 1 according to embodiment 1 includes the detection device 12, and the detection device 12 determines whether or not there is a change in the route during the automatic driving based on the sensor information of the plurality of sensors S1 included in the vehicle 1, and outputs an instruction to execute the automatic driving according to the determination result to the vehicle control device 13. The driving assistance device 10 or the vehicle 1 includes an improper drive detection device 15, and the improper drive detection device 15 uses information on one or more other vehicles in the vicinity of the vehicle 1 under automatic driving and the region information of the vehicle 1 to inquire of the improper drive database 30 whether there is an improper drive vehicle that is improperly driven among the other vehicles, and detects whether there is an improper drive measure of the other vehicles based on the inquiry result from the improper drive database 30. When the improper driving occurs, the driving assistance device 10 or the vehicle 1 generates improper driving vehicle information including ID information of the improper driving vehicle in which the improper driving has been performed and travel track information of each of the improper driving vehicle and the vehicle 1, and requests registration or update of the improper driving vehicle information to the improper driving database 30.

Thus, the vehicle 1 can efficiently determine whether each of the one or more other vehicles running in the vicinity of the vehicle 1 (own vehicle) is improperly driven such as abnormally approaching the vehicle 1 during the autonomous driving. In addition, the vehicle 1 generates information on another vehicle that has performed the improper driving as evidence data for sanctions, and newly registers or updates the information in the improper driving database 30 widely disclosed to the public, so that it is possible to effectively promote suppression of execution of the improper driving of the other vehicle.

In addition, the query result from the improper driving database 30 contains information of the pattern and frequency of improper driving of another vehicle that has been improperly driven in the past. The improper driving detecting means 15 detects whether improper driving of another vehicle has occurred based on the information of the pattern and frequency of improper driving. Thus, the vehicle 1 can easily predict the type of inappropriate driving, such as deceleration or abnormal approach, in consideration of the result of the query of the inappropriate driving database 30 (for example, information on the inappropriate driving pattern and frequency), and can therefore quickly determine the presence or absence of the occurrence of inappropriate driving.

In addition, the improper driving detecting means 15 generates improper behavior modification information indicating the characteristics of the improperly driven vehicle using the query result from the improper driving database 30, and transmits the modification information to the detecting means 12. When at least one other vehicle satisfying the inappropriate behavior alert information is detected, the detection device 12 generates an inappropriate behavior avoidance route corresponding to the inappropriate behavior alert information and outputs the inappropriate behavior avoidance route to the vehicle control device 13. Thus, the vehicle 1 can actively avoid another vehicle (that is, an improperly-driven vehicle that has been improperly driven in the past) around the vehicle 1 (own vehicle) to realize the running of the vehicle 1 by the safe automated driving.

In addition, the improper behavior modification information has information of an improper driving pattern. The detection device 12 generates an improper behavior avoidance path corresponding to a pattern of improper driving. Thus, the vehicle 1 can generate a route that can avoid a collision even if the inappropriate driving that has been performed in the past is performed, in consideration of the type of the inappropriate driving that has been performed in the past by another vehicle that is traveling around the vehicle 1, and therefore can safely continue the automatic driving.

In addition, the improper behavior modification information has information of improper driving patterns and frequencies of improper driving. The detection device 12 generates an inappropriate behavior avoidance path corresponding to the inappropriate driving pattern and the frequency of inappropriate driving. Thus, the vehicle 1 can generate a route that can avoid a collision earlier even if improper driving that has been performed in the past is performed frequently, taking into account both the type and frequency of improper driving that has been performed in the past by another vehicle that is traveling around the vehicle 1, and therefore can safely continue automatic driving.

The improper drive detecting device 15 receives, as the information about the other vehicle, the identification number information of the other vehicle (for example, vehicle identification number information) and the characteristic information of the other vehicle and the driver, which are included in the sensor information from the plurality of sensors S1. Thus, the vehicle 1 can always receive the latest sensor information during automatic driving, and can easily search the improper driving database 30 using the information, and thus can detect whether improper driving is present or absent with high accuracy.

The cloud server 20 according to embodiment 1 is connected to an improper drive database 30 so as to be able to access the improper drive database 30, and the improper drive database 30 is used to hold information on an improper drive vehicle that has been improperly driven in the past (that is, improper drive vehicle information). The cloud server 20 receives an inquiry request including information on one or more other vehicles around the vehicle 1 in automatic driving and regional information of the vehicle 1, and inquires whether there is an improperly-driven vehicle in which improper driving is performed among the other vehicles. The cloud server 20 accesses the improper driving database 30 via the communication interface 21 to perform an inquiry including the presence or absence of an improper driving of another vehicle among the other vehicles based on the information about the other vehicle and the region information of the vehicle 1 included in the received inquiry request, and transmits the inquiry result from the improper driving database 30 to the vehicle 1 via the communication interface 21. The cloud server 20 receives the improperly driven vehicle information generated by the vehicle 1 when the occurrence of improper driving of another vehicle is detected by the vehicle 1, and registers or updates the improperly driven vehicle information in the improper driving database 30, the improperly driven vehicle information including ID information of the improperly driven vehicle in which improper driving has been performed and travel locus information of each of the improperly driven vehicle and the vehicle 1.

Thus, the cloud server 20 can acquire, as evidence of improper driving, improper driving vehicle information including information on another vehicle that has performed improper driving such as abnormal approach to the vehicle 1 in automatic driving from the vehicle 1. Thus, the cloud server 20 can register or update the improper driving vehicle information generated as evidence into the improper driving database 30 widely disclosed to the public, and therefore can effectively promote suppression of execution of improper driving.

(embodiment mode 2)

In embodiment 2, the improper driving detection device 15 of the vehicle 1 is different from that of embodiment 1 in data or information used for detection of the presence or absence of improper driving. Specifically, the improper driving detection device 15 does not input any sensor information from the plurality of sensors S1 or any data of the dynamic map from the DM information database 11. The improper drive detection device 15 receives information for determining danger from the detection device 12 (see below), and detects the presence or absence of improper drive using the information for determining danger (see fig. 8).

Fig. 8 is a block diagram showing an example of the system configuration of the improper drive detection system 100 of the vehicle 1 equipped with the driving assistance device 10 according to embodiment 2. Since the configuration of the improper drive detection system 100 according to embodiment 2 is the same as that of the improper drive detection system 100 according to embodiment 1, the same reference numerals are given to the configurations that perform the same processing, and the description is simplified or omitted, and different contents are described.

As shown in fig. 8, the improper drive detection device 15 according to embodiment 2 receives information for determining danger from the detection device 12. The danger determination information is used in order to detect whether or not another vehicle traveling around the vehicle 1 under automatic driving has been improperly driven by the improper drive detection device 15 according to embodiment 2. Specifically, the information for determining danger is obstacle information, other vehicle behavior information, vehicle position information, vehicle traveling region information, road structure information, and vehicle identification number (No.) information.

The obstacle information is position information of an obstacle (e.g., a structure such as another vehicle, a person, or a guardrail), and is obtained by the detection device 12 based on sensor information from the plurality of sensors S1, for example, and the same will be described below.

The other vehicle behavior information is information indicating the latest travel trajectory of each of one or more other vehicles included in an obstacle (for example, another vehicle, a person, a structure such as a guardrail), and is obtained by the detection device 12 based on sensor information from the plurality of sensors S1, for example, and the same applies hereinafter.

The vehicle position information, which is an example of the position information, is information of the current position of the vehicle 1 during automatic driving, and is obtained by the probe device 12 based on sensor information from the plurality of sensors S1, for example, and the same will be applied hereinafter.

The vehicle travel area information, which is an example of the travel area information, includes the current position of the vehicle 1 during automatic driving, is information indicating an area exceeding a predetermined range of the vehicle width of the road on which the vehicle 1 is traveling, and is obtained by the probe device 12 based on sensor information from the plurality of sensors S1, for example, and the same applies hereinafter.

The road structure information is information indicating the structure of the road on which the vehicle 1 is traveling during automatic driving, and is obtained by the probe device 12 based on data of a dynamic map from the DM information database 11, for example, and the same applies hereinafter.

The vehicle identification number information is number information that can identify another vehicle, and is obtained by the probe device 12 based on sensor information from the plurality of sensors S1, for example, and the same applies hereinafter.

Next, the operation of the detection device 12 of the driving assistance device 10 according to embodiment 2 will be described with reference to fig. 9. Fig. 9 is a flowchart showing an example of an operation procedure of the probe device mounted on the driving assistance device 10 according to embodiment 2. As a premise of the description of fig. 9, the vehicle 1 is in automatic driving to a destination designated by a user operation such as a driver.

In the explanation of fig. 9, the same processes as those of the corresponding probe device 12 of embodiment 1 shown in fig. 3 are assigned the same step numbers, and the explanation is simplified or omitted, and different contents will be explained.

In fig. 9, after step St1, the detection device 12 generates the above-described information for risk determination using the sensor information from the plurality of sensors S1 obtained in step St 1(St 61), and transmits the generated information for risk determination to the improper driving detection device 15(St 62). The processing after step St62 is the same as the processing after step St1 in fig. 3, and therefore, the description thereof is omitted.

Next, the operation of the detection device 12 of the driving assistance device 10 according to embodiment 2 will be described with reference to fig. 9. Fig. 10 is a flowchart showing an example of an operation procedure of the improper drive detection device 15 mounted on the driving assistance device 10 according to embodiment 2. As a premise of the description of fig. 10, the vehicle 1 is in automatic driving to a destination designated by a user operation such as a driver.

In the explanation of fig. 10, the same steps as those of the corresponding improper drive detection device 15 of embodiment 1 shown in fig. 4 are assigned the same reference numerals, and the explanation thereof is simplified or omitted, and different contents will be explained.

In fig. 10, the improper drive detection device 15 receives the information for determining danger transmitted from the detection device 12 at all times or periodically (St 71). The improper driving detection device 15 generates the area information based on the vehicle position information included in the information for hazard judgment obtained in step St71 (St 72). For example, if the position information of the vehicle 1 is "CC street in BB of AA city", the improper driving detection device 15 generates the area information of "AA city" in a wide range including the "CC street". The improper driving detection device 15 generates wide-range area information from the position information of the vehicle 1, and uses the area information in the inquiry request transmitted to the cloud server 20. This enables the cloud server 20 to quickly perform an inquiry only for the current region where the vehicle 1 is traveling.

Since the improper driving detection device 15 inquires of the cloud server 20 whether or not there is an improper driving vehicle that has been improperly driven in the past among one or more other vehicles in the vicinity of the vehicle 1, an inquiry request including the vehicle identification number information included in the information for determining a danger received in step St71 and the area information generated in step St72 is generated. The improper driving detection device 15 transmits the generated inquiry request to the cloud server 20 via the communication device 16 (St 73).

The cloud server 20 searches the improper driving database 30 in response to the inquiry request generated by the improper driving detecting device 15 to determine whether or not another vehicle that satisfies the vehicle ID information (specifically, the vehicle identification number information) has performed improper driving in the past among the area information included in the inquiry request. The cloud server 20 transmits the retrieval result (that is, the query result) of the improper driving database 30 to the vehicle 1. The inquiry result includes, for example, the vehicle identification number information included in the matching vehicle ID information in the improper driving database 30 shown in fig. 2 and various information (e.g., information of improper driving pattern and frequency) corresponding to the vehicle identification number information.

The improper driving detection device 15 accepts the query result of the improper driving database 30 transmitted from the cloud server 20 via the communication device 16 (St 14). The improper driving detecting device 15 determines whether the vehicle identification number information received through step St71 is registered in the improper driving database 30 (in other words, whether another vehicle in the vicinity of the vehicle 1 has been improperly driven in the past) based on the result of the inquiry of the improper driving database 30 (St 15). In the case where it is determined that the vehicle identification number information is not registered in the improper driving database 30 (St 15: no), the process of the improper driving detecting device 15 proceeds to step St 75.

On the other hand, in the case where it is determined that the vehicle ID information is registered in the improper driving database 30 (St 15: YES), the improper driving detection device 15 generates improper behavior modification information (refer to the above) using the obstacle information received in step St71 (that is, the position information of the other vehicle that is traveling around the vehicle 1) (St 74). The improper driving detection device 15 transmits the generated improper behavior modification information to the detection device 12(St 74).

After step St74, the improper driving detection device 15 determines the occurrence situation (in other words, the presence or absence of improper driving) of improper driving of one or more other vehicles in the periphery of the vehicle 1 (own vehicle) based on the information for hazard determination received in step St71 (St 75). In the case where improper driving of one or more other vehicles around the vehicle 1 has not occurred (St 19: no), the process of the improper driving detecting device 15 returns to step St 71.

When it is determined after step St75 that improper driving of one or more other vehicles around the vehicle 1 (own vehicle) has occurred (St 19: "yes"), the improper driving detection device 15 generates improper driving vehicle information corresponding to the other vehicle on which the improper driving has been performed (St 76). The improperly-driven vehicle information generated in step St76 includes, for example, information on the region where improper driving has occurred, information on an improper driving pattern, and data indicating the respective travel trajectories of the improperly-driven vehicle (that is, another vehicle that has been improperly driven with respect to the vehicle 1) and the vehicle 1 (own vehicle). For example, the improper driving vehicle information is used as proof information used when an external entity (see above) such as a police station or a car insurance company determines whether to perform sanctions. The processing after step St76 is the same as the processing after step St20 in fig. 4, and therefore, the description thereof is omitted.

As described above, in the improper drive detection system 100 according to embodiment 2, the improper drive detection device 15 of the vehicle 1 receives the obstacle information, the other vehicle behavior information, and the identification number information (for example, vehicle identification number information) of the other vehicle transmitted from the detection device 12 as the information relating to the other vehicle. The improper drive detection device 15 receives the own vehicle travel area information of the vehicle 1, the own vehicle position information of the vehicle 1, and the road structure information transmitted from the detection device 12. These obstacle information, other vehicle behavior information, vehicle position information, vehicle traveling area information, road structure information, and vehicle identification number information are information for determining danger. Thus, compared to embodiment 1, when the inappropriate driving detection device 15 detects the presence or absence of inappropriate driving, the vehicle 1 does not use the sensor information from the plurality of sensors S1, but uses the information for risk determination having a smaller information amount than the sensor information, and therefore, the processing load at the time of detecting the presence or absence of inappropriate driving can be reduced.

(first modification)

In the first modification, the data or information used by the improper drive detecting device 15 of the vehicle 1 to detect the presence or absence of improper drive is different from those of embodiment 1 and embodiment 2. Specifically, the improper driving detecting means 15 does not input the data of the dynamic map from the DM information database 11. The improper drive detection device 15 receives input of information for determining danger from the detection device 12 (see below) and sensor information from the plurality of sensors S1, and detects the presence or absence of improper drive using these various pieces of input information (see fig. 11).

Fig. 11 is a block diagram showing an example of the system configuration of the improper driving detection system 100 of the vehicle 1 including the driving assistance device 10 according to the first modification. Since the configuration of the improper drive detection system 100 according to the first modification is the same as that of the improper drive detection system 100 according to embodiment 1, the same reference numerals are given to the configurations that perform the same processing, and the description is simplified or omitted, and different contents are described.

As shown in fig. 11, the improper drive detection device 15 according to the first modification receives information for determining danger from the detection device 12. The danger determination information according to the first modification is used to detect whether or not one other vehicle in the vicinity of the vehicle 1 that is traveling during automatic driving is improperly driven by the improper driving detection device 15 according to the first modification. Specifically, the information for risk assessment is obstacle information, other vehicle behavior information, vehicle position information, vehicle travel area information, and road structure information. That is, unlike the danger determination signal according to embodiment 2, the vehicle identification number (No.) information is not included. This is because the sensor information from the plurality of sensors S1 is input to the improper drive detection device 15, and therefore the detection device 12 does not need to transmit the vehicle identification number (No.) information to the improper drive detection device 15.

The operation procedures of the detection device 12 and the improper drive detection device 15 of the vehicle 1 according to the first modification are different from each other in the information input to the improper drive detection device 15, but the operation of the detection device 12 is an operation combining the operation procedures shown in fig. 3 and 9, respectively, and the operation of the improper drive detection device 15 is an operation combining the operation procedures shown in fig. 4 and 10, respectively, and therefore, the description thereof is omitted.

As described above, in the improper drive detection system 100 according to the first modification, the improper drive detection device 15 of the vehicle 1 receives the obstacle information and the other vehicle behavior information transmitted from the detection device 12 as the information on the other vehicle. The improper drive detection device 15 receives the vehicle travel area information of the vehicle, the vehicle position information of the vehicle, and the road structure information transmitted from the detection device 12. These obstacle information, other vehicle behavior information, vehicle position information, vehicle traveling area information, and road structure information are information for risk assessment. Thus, compared to embodiment 1, since the vehicle 1 uses the information for determining danger from the detection device 12 when the inappropriate driving detection device 15 detects the presence or absence of inappropriate driving, the processing load at the time of detection of the presence or absence of inappropriate driving can be reduced.

(second modification)

In the second modification, the data or information used for detecting the presence or absence of inappropriate driving by the inappropriate driving detection device 15 of the vehicle 1 is different from those in embodiment 1 and embodiment 2. Specifically, the improper driving detection means 15 does not input data of the dynamic map from the DM information database 11. The improper drive detecting device 15 receives input of information for determining danger from the detecting device 12 (see below) and sensor information from the plurality of sensors S1, and detects the presence or absence of improper drive using these various input information (see fig. 12).

Fig. 12 is a block diagram showing an example of the system configuration of the improper driving detection system 100 of the vehicle 1 including the driving assistance device 10 according to the second modification. Since the configuration of the improper drive detection system 100 according to the second modification is the same as that of the improper drive detection system 100 according to embodiment 1, the same reference numerals are given to the configurations that perform the same processing, and the description is simplified or omitted, and different contents are described.

As shown in fig. 12, the improper drive detecting device 15 according to the second modification receives the danger determining information from the detecting device 12. The danger determination information according to the second modification is used as trigger information for a detection process for starting detection of whether or not another vehicle traveling around the vehicle 1 under automatic driving has been improperly driven by the improper drive detection device 15 according to the second modification. Specifically, the information for risk assessment is traveling area intrusion information and vehicle position information. The traveling region intrusion information is information indicating that another vehicle in the vicinity intrudes within a predetermined distance from the vehicle 1 (own vehicle). The prescribed distance is, for example, a distance that is farther apart than a distance that can avoid a collision when the other vehicle is improperly driven (e.g., hard braking).

The operation procedures of the detection device 12 and the improper drive detection device 15 of the vehicle 1 according to the second modification are different from each other in the information input to the improper drive detection device 15, but the operation of the detection device 12 is an operation combining the operation procedures shown in fig. 3 and 9, respectively, and the operation of the improper drive detection device 15 is an operation combining the operation procedures shown in fig. 4 and 10, respectively, and therefore, the description thereof is omitted. When the driving failure detection device 15 receives the information for determining danger transmitted from the detection device 12, it starts to determine whether or not improper driving has occurred.

As described above, in the improper drive detection system 100 according to the second modification, the improper drive detection device 15 of the vehicle 1 receives the sensor information including the vehicle identification number information of the other vehicle transmitted from the plurality of sensors S1, and receives the intrusion information of the other vehicle intruding into the travel area of the vehicle 1 (that is, the travel area intrusion information) and the own vehicle position information transmitted from the detection device 12. Thus, compared to embodiment 1, when the improper driving detection device 15 detects the presence or absence of improper driving, the vehicle 1 starts to detect the presence or absence of improper driving at the time point when the travel area intrusion information is received even if the sensor information from the plurality of sensors S1 is input, and therefore, the processing load at the time of detecting the presence or absence of improper driving can be reduced.

(third modification)

In the third modification, the data or information used for detecting the presence or absence of inappropriate driving by the inappropriate driving detection device 15 of the vehicle 1 is different from those in embodiment 1 and embodiment 2. Specifically, the improper driving detection device 15 does not input sensor information from the plurality of sensors S1 or data of the dynamic map from the DM information database 11. The improper drive detecting device 15 inputs information for determining danger from the detecting device 12 (see below), and detects the presence or absence of improper drive using the input information for determining danger (see fig. 13).

Fig. 13 is a block diagram showing an example of the system configuration of the improper driving detection system 100 of the vehicle 1 including the driving assistance device 10 according to the third modification. Since the configuration of the improper drive detection system 100 according to the third modification is the same as that of the improper drive detection system 100 according to embodiment 1, the same reference numerals are given to the configurations that perform the same processing, and the description is simplified or omitted, and different contents are described.

As shown in fig. 13, the improper drive detection device 15 according to the third modification receives information for determining danger from the detection device 12. The danger determination information according to the third modification is used to detect whether or not one other vehicle in the vicinity of the vehicle 1 that is traveling during automatic driving is improperly driven by the improper driving detection device 15 according to the third modification. Specifically, the information for risk assessment is traveling area intrusion information, vehicle position information, and vehicle identification number (No.) information.

The operation procedures of the detection device 12 and the improper drive detection device 15 of the vehicle 1 according to the third modification are different from each other in the information input to the improper drive detection device 15, but the operation of the detection device 12 is performed according to the operation procedure shown in fig. 9, and the operation of the improper drive detection device 15 is performed according to the operation procedure shown in fig. 10, and therefore, the description thereof is omitted.

As described above, in the improper drive detection system 100 according to the third modification, the improper drive detection device 15 of the vehicle 1 receives the intrusion information of the other vehicle intruding into the travel area of the vehicle 1 (that is, the travel area intrusion information), the own vehicle position information, and the identification number information of the other vehicle, which are transmitted from the detection device 12. These traveling area intrusion information, vehicle position information, and vehicle identification number (No.) information are information for determining danger. Thus, compared to embodiment 1, when the improper drive detection device 15 detects the presence or absence of improper drive, the vehicle 1 does not input the sensor information from the plurality of sensors S1, but detects the presence or absence of improper drive based on the travel area intrusion information, and therefore, the processing load at the time of detecting the presence or absence of improper drive can be further reduced.

While various embodiments have been described above with reference to the drawings, it is needless to say that the present disclosure is not limited to the examples. It is obvious that a person skilled in the art can conceive various modifications, substitutions, additions, deletions, and equivalents within the scope of the claims, and understand that these are also within the technical scope of the present disclosure. In addition, the respective components in the above-described embodiments may be arbitrarily combined without departing from the scope of the invention.

In the above-described embodiments, the inquiry request including the vehicle ID information and the area information of the vehicle 1 is used when the inquiry is made from the vehicle 1 to the improper driving database 30 via the cloud server 20, but the inquiry may be made using at least one of the vehicle ID information and the area information of the vehicle 1.

Further, the present application is based on the application of japanese patent application (japanese patent application 2018-.

Industrial applicability

The present disclosure is useful as a driving assistance device, a vehicle, an improper driving detection system, and a server device, as follows: in automatic driving, whether inappropriate driving such as abnormal approach has been performed for the host vehicle is efficiently determined, information on another vehicle that has performed the inappropriate driving is generated as evidence, and the information is registered or updated in a predetermined database, thereby effectively promoting suppression of execution of the inappropriate driving.

Description of the reference numerals

1: a vehicle; 10: a driving assistance device; 11: a DM information database; 12: a detection device; 13: a vehicle control device; 14: an actuator; 15: improper driving detection means; 16: a communication device; 20: a cloud server; 21: a communication interface; 22. m1: a memory; 23: a processor; 30: an improper driving database; 40: a third party terminal; 50: an external mechanism terminal; 100: an improper driving detection system; s1: a sensor.

Claims

1. A driving assistance device is provided with:

a detection unit that determines whether or not there is a change in a route during automatic driving based on sensor information obtained from a sensor provided in a vehicle, and outputs an instruction to execute automatic driving according to the determination result to a vehicle control unit; and

an improper driving detection unit that uses at least one of information relating to one or more other vehicles in the vicinity of the vehicle under automatic driving and regional information including a location where the vehicle is located, queries an external database, and receives from the database the presence or absence of an improper driving vehicle, the pattern of improper driving of the improper driving vehicle, and the frequency of improper driving of the improper driving vehicle to detect the presence or absence of improper driving,

wherein the detection portion generates an inappropriate behavior avoidance path of the vehicle in the automatic driving according to presence or absence of the improperly-driven vehicle, the pattern of improper driving of the improperly-driven vehicle, and the frequency of improper driving of the improperly-driven vehicle, and outputs the inappropriate behavior avoidance path to the vehicle control portion,

the improper driving detection portion, when detecting the improper driving based on the sensor information, generates improper driving vehicle information including ID information of an improper driving vehicle in which the improper driving is performed and travel track information of each of the improper driving vehicle and the vehicle, and requests the database to register or update the improper driving vehicle information.

2. The driving assistance apparatus according to claim 1,

the detection unit generates the inappropriate behavior avoidance route of the vehicle in the automatic driving when the frequency of inappropriate driving of the inappropriate-driving vehicle is equal to or greater than a predetermined value.

3. The driving assistance apparatus according to claim 2,

the detection portion does not generate the inappropriate behavior avoidance path of the vehicle in the automatic driving, when the frequency of inappropriate driving of the inappropriate-driving vehicle is less than a predetermined value.

4. The driving assistance apparatus according to claim 3, wherein,

when the frequency of inappropriate driving of the vehicle is less than a predetermined value, the detection unit outputs a currently set route to the vehicle control unit, the currently set route being not the inappropriate behavior avoidance route of the vehicle in the automatic driving.

5. The driving assistance apparatus according to claim 1,

the pattern of the improper driving includes any one of an abnormal approach, a break-in-front, a hard braking, and a trailing driving from behind.

6. The driving assistance apparatus according to claim 1,

the inappropriate driving detection unit receives, as the information relating to the other vehicle, the identification number information of the other vehicle and the characteristic information of the other vehicle and the driver included in the sensor information.

7. The driving assistance apparatus according to claim 1,

the improper drive detection unit receives, as information relating to the other vehicle, the obstacle information, the behavior information of the other vehicle, and the identification number information of the other vehicle, which are transmitted from the detection unit, and also receives, from the detection unit, the travel area information of the vehicle, the position information of the vehicle, and the road structure information.

8. The driving assistance apparatus according to claim 1,

the improper drive detection unit receives the sensor information including the identification number information of the other vehicle transmitted from the sensor, receives the obstacle information and the other vehicle behavior information transmitted from the detection unit as information relating to the other vehicle, and further receives the travel area information of the vehicle, the position information of the vehicle, and the road structure information transmitted from the detection unit.

9. The driving assistance apparatus according to claim 1,

the improper drive detection unit receives the sensor information including the identification number information of the other vehicle transmitted from the sensor, and receives intrusion information of the other vehicle intruding into a traveling area of the vehicle and position information of the vehicle transmitted from the detection unit.

10. The driving assistance apparatus according to claim 1,

the improper drive detection unit receives intrusion information of the other vehicle intruding into a travel area of the vehicle, position information of the vehicle, and identification number information of the other vehicle, which are transmitted from the detection unit.

11. A vehicle having a driving assistance device mounted thereon,

the driving assistance device includes:

a detection unit that determines whether or not there is a change in a route during automatic driving based on sensor information obtained from a sensor provided in the vehicle, and outputs an instruction to execute automatic driving according to the determination result to a vehicle control unit; and

an improper driving detection unit that uses at least one of information relating to one or more other vehicles in the vicinity of the vehicle during automatic driving and area information including a location where the vehicle is located, queries an external database, and receives from the database the presence or absence of an improper driving vehicle, the pattern of improper driving of the improper driving vehicle, and the frequency of improper driving of the improper driving vehicle, to detect the presence or absence of improper driving,

the improper drive detection section, when detecting the improper drive based on the sensor information, generates improper drive vehicle information including ID information of an improper drive vehicle in which the improper drive is performed and travel track information of each of the improper drive vehicle and the vehicle, and requests the database to register or update the improper drive vehicle information.

12. An improper driving detection system in which a server apparatus is communicably connected with a vehicle, the server apparatus having access to a database for holding information relating to an improper driving vehicle that has performed improper driving, wherein,

the vehicle determines whether or not there is a change in a route during automatic driving based on sensor information obtained from a sensor provided in the vehicle, and outputs an instruction to execute automatic driving according to the determination result to a vehicle control unit,

the vehicle inquires the server device using at least one of information on one or more other vehicles in the vicinity of the vehicle under automatic driving and area information including a location where the vehicle is located, receives from the server device the presence or absence of an improperly driven vehicle, the pattern of improper driving of the improperly driven vehicle, and the frequency of improper driving of the improperly driven vehicle, and detects the presence or absence of improper driving,

the server device accessing the database in response to a query from the vehicle, accepting a query result corresponding to the query from the vehicle, and transmitting the query result to the vehicle,

the vehicle detects the presence or absence of improper driving based on the inquiry result transmitted from the server device and sensor information obtained from the sensor,

the vehicle generates an inappropriate behavior avoidance path of the vehicle in the automatic driving according to presence or absence of the improperly-driven vehicle, the pattern of improper driving of the improperly-driven vehicle, and the frequency of improper driving of the improperly-driven vehicle, and outputs the inappropriate behavior avoidance path to the vehicle control portion,

the vehicle generates improper driving vehicle information including ID information of an improper driving vehicle on which the improper driving has been performed and travel track information of each of the improper driving vehicle and the vehicle, and requests the server device to perform registration or update of the improper driving vehicle information, in a case where the improper driving is detected based on the sensor information.

13. A server device connected to a database for holding information on an improperly driven vehicle that has performed improper driving so as to be able to access the database, the server device comprising:

a communication unit that receives an inquiry request that includes at least one of information relating to one or more other vehicles in the vicinity of a vehicle that is automatically driving and area information including a place where the vehicle is located, and that is used to inquire of the presence or absence of an improperly-driven vehicle, the pattern of improper driving of the improperly-driven vehicle, and the frequency of improper driving of the improperly-driven vehicle; and

a processor that accesses the database via the communication portion to perform an inquiry including presence or absence of the improperly driven vehicle, the pattern of improper driving of the improperly driven vehicle, and the frequency of improper driving of the improperly driven vehicle based on the information on the other vehicle and the region information included in the received inquiry request, generates an improper behavior avoidance path of the vehicle in the automatic driving corresponding to presence or absence of the improperly driven vehicle, the pattern of improper driving of the improperly driven vehicle, and the frequency of improper driving of the improperly driven vehicle, and outputs the path to the vehicle,

wherein the processor registers or updates in the database after accepting improper driving vehicle information generated by the vehicle in a case where the improper driving is detected by the vehicle, the improper driving vehicle information including ID information of the improper driving vehicle in which the improper driving is performed and respective travel track information of the improper driving vehicle and the vehicle.